Dark Heroine
by otakukuro
Summary: So what if our level-headed, well-adjusted, mischievous Lydia from the cartoons was in the movie instead of the slightly more suicidal and depressed movie Lydia? Well, for one, things will definitely go better for Betelgeuse.
1. Prelude

Author: Kandy Kuro (Otakkun)

Summary: So what if our level-headed, well-adjusted, mischievous Lydia from the cartoons was in the movie instead of the slightly more suicidal and depressed movie Lydia? Well, for one, things will definitely go better for Betelgeuse.

Warnings: Swearing (Betelgeuse), sexual situations (Betelgeuse), and… well I should probably not say it again… ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Beetlejuice or Lydia or any of the characters cartoon of movie. I'm only playing with them for a bit, and promise I'm not getting any money from it. Geez.

Author's Notes: Well I was watching the Beetlejuice movie and kept noticing how different movie Lydia was from cartoon Lydia. I watched the cartoon before the movie, so I'm a bit biased… but isn't cartoon Lydia so much better than her movie counterpart? I mean movie Lydia was a bit more depressing and weak (though at first it doesn't show) staring with"Why are you doing this?!", and she ends up the victim. Cartoon Lydia didn't speak once of suicide, and just seemed to love the creepy and strange, and she ends up on equal footing with Beetlejuice (if not running the show herself). Well anyway, I was watching the movie and kept finding places where I know cartoon Lydia would have burst out laughing, and couldn't help but wonder what Beetlejuice would have done if she did. So here's _that _story.

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**Dark Heroine**

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The constant noise of the city was at it's usual deafening level; cars honking, people shouting, dogs barking, and shady dealers dealing shadily. For most New Yorkers it was nothing, just easy-to-ignore background music to their own lives, but there was one little girl who still wish all of those idiots would just shut up.

And that little girl was Lydia Deetz. With a harsh slam she shut her bedroom window, the unfortunately placed one that gave 'a wonderful view of the skyline' as her step-mother had said. It was true that the New York City skyline was something to behold, but after years of looking out at the polluted and starless sky (and snapping about three dozen dark photos of the city after dark) the view was just annoying. Dark grey and black curtains shut closed, leaving the room in a dreary dark.

The girls eyes wandered around her room, the monster posters and voodoo dolls, the plastic skulls and wax candles, and quickly her red-and-black painted lips whipped up in a smile. She just _loved _her room! It always looked so spooky and dark, and she snapped a few pictures of the more interesting shadows that splayed across her grey walls. Her step-mother, Delia, had called the room 'depressing' and 'a virtual graveyard', but that was _not _it. Her room was perfect with the neutral and deep violet colors. Well, she did have to admit it felt like a graveyard a little bit, but that's what she liked about it. Really, if Dracula came over one night needing a place to stay the day, wouldn't she feel embarrassed to lead him to a frilly little-girls' room? She was just planning ahead.

And so it was with that resolve in mind that she fended off Delia's by-monthly pink-and-yellow terrorist attacks on her room. She thought Dracula would be proud.

"Pumpkin! Could you come here for a second?" The call came from outside her door. It was her father, and she was curious to she what he wanted. Charles Deetz had been a ruthless real estate dealer just a few years ago, until the death of his wife, Lydia's mother. Since then his nerve and resolve had been deteriorating. It was the only thing she liked about her step-mother: she managed to bring her dad out of his funk.

"Coming Dad!" Lydia called back, pulling her hair quickly up into a messy ponytail directly on top of her head. Her hair, for some reason, looked longer this way and she loved the gravity-defying look it gave her.

She left her room and walked over into the main part of the condo, her father and step-mother seemed to be arguing about something, while a woman who Lydia didn't know looked on excitedly. She heard her father say something about 'it's just what I need!' and her step-mother reply with 'out in the middle of nowhere?!' It took them a while to notice she was even there.

"Oh, Pumpkin!" Her father said, using his usual term of endearment. She didn't mind it since pumpkins reminded her of Halloween.

"OH! Hello Lydia darling!" Delia spoke in that strange voice of hers, the one that said I'm-only-dealing-with-you-because-of-your-father. And 'darling' was not an endearment Lydia liked.

"Hello Delia." The twelve-year-old replied in turn with her own I'm-only-dealing-with-_you-_because-of-my-dad tone.

The conversation/argument continued and Lydia was able to gather a few bits of information. For one, the woman she didn't know was Jane Butterfield, a relation of someone who had a house out in a place called Winter River. Another was that her had wanted to buy the house as a place to retire, to settle his nerves (though the Butterfield lady never actually said it was for sale). And lastly, that Delia was against it; _way _against it.

"But where will I get inspiration for my art, Charles?! You know my recent theme is the wretchedness of city living!" The red-head screeched. "And to think, _me _living out in a small town with… with… _townsfolk!" _She screamed, acting like he was asking her to go live in a marsh with crocodiles and mosquitoes.

The youngest Deetz remained quiet, watching their bickering. She'd always been a level-headed girl, very down-to-Earth even if she would rather be down-to-Mars. Delia's art wasn't bad; though she would never admit it. It was creepy and awkward, and exactly the kind of thing that Lydia liked. She was often left in wonder about how such a dull and preppy woman could create something so unusual. But regardless of those thoughts, she was still daddy's girl.

"Dad." The dark-haired pre-teen said softly to gain his attention. "If you think it will help, we should definitely do it. Country life has got to be relaxing and I'll be able to get some wicked new footage!" Lydia held up her camera, adding a little more incentive. Since her mother's death he'd been trying to find some common-ground with his daughter, she got a lot of cool stuff because of it, but in reality they still were worlds apart.

The blondeman smiled thankfully at his daughter then turned to Delia with a grin. "There, you see? It'll be good for Lydia. Children shouldn't grow up in a big city! They should have places to play, without having to worry about getting mugged."

"_I _grew up in the city." The red-head stated flatly, but she didn't need to see the strange looks on her husband and step-daughters' faces to know she lost the argument. "Well, we need to bring Otho because there is _no way_ I'm going into that wilderness alone!"

Lydia sighed exasperatedly and went to look at the photo that sparked this conversation. It was a nice house, standing alone with no direct neighbors. It was the type of house that looked so cozy and normal that there had to be something horrible that happened there. Like a family was murdered in cold-blood and their spirits still lurked around, scaring away any new residents, but really just want someone to help bring their souls to rest…

During her little day-dream she heard the Buttermilk, or whatever, woman mention that the house wasn't exactly for sale yet. But that didn't matter much, since once her dad had set his mind on something he wouldn't give in -she actually felt sorry for the current residents- but if there were still people living in that house it was a good sign that no specters were pining for revenge there. It was just an ordinary old house.

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"They _died?_" Lydia said, her mouth hanging open in shock. Her parents were watching as a few guys in dirty blue jumpsuits loaded their things into the moving truck. They'd decided that if they were going to need to hire loaders to ship all of Delia's sculptures to Winter River, then they might as well have them haul everything.

"Yes, that's what they said dear." Her father said looking eager to get on the way. They were flying to Connecticut, but most of their stuff would have to be driven so it would arrive a few days later, they on the other hand would be there tomorrow.

"Well, they must have been accommodating people." Delia said in an ambiguous way that could have been serious of mocking. "They even died conveniently… Be careful with that!" The artist fussed at one of the blue jumpsuit guys.

Lydia spared a glare at her step-mother before going to sit down on one of the couches that they hadn't gotten around to moving. "Wow, creepy…" She mused, if the house wasn't haunted before, maybe it would be now. She smiled and lifted the camera that was around her neck (she would never allow them to ship it away from her) and snapped a picture of the condo she'd lived in for the past six years. Good_bye._

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Meanwhile, amongst a mess of candles, old fliers, and liquor bottles, a man with ridiculously untidy blonde hair was flipping through a newspaper to the Obituaries.

"Oh la la!" A rough voice sang, almost as if he was mocking someone while saying it. "What'da we got here: the Maitlands, huh." The man laughed in a decidedly non-humorous way, but filled with something else. "Cute couple… look nice and stupid too." The laughing that followed now was a bit clearer; like the chuckling of a man who'd found a crunched rat in one of the traps he'd set up for it; a 'got ya' type of laugh.

To be Continued…

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_A/N: Okay! What do you think? I tried to show Lydia's cartoon personality here, but there wasn't much situation for it. Lydia's behavior will change the eventual outcome of the story, and if I don't get it right there's no point, so tell me if I'm off. I re-watched Beetlejuice (movie and cartoon) to try to get this right. Note the direct quote from Betelgeuse in the last paragraph. Anyway, please read and review, I'll probably keep writing tonight, so chances are the next chapter is already up or soon to be._


	2. The Maitlands

Author: Kandy Kuro (Otakkun)

Summary: So what if our level-headed, well-adjusted, mischievous Lydia from the cartoons was in the movie instead of the slightly more suicidal and depressed movie Lydia? Well, for one, things will definitely go better for Betelgeuse.

Warnings: Swearing (Betelgeuse), sexual situations (Betelgeuse), and… well I should probably not say it again… ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Beetlejuice or Lydia or any of the characters cartoon or movie. I'm only playing with them for a bit, and promise I'm not getting any money from it. Geez.

Author's Notes: I got this one up pretty quick if I do say so myself. *proud* Really it's because of the reviews I got, I'm so happy I got some so quickly! The Beetlejuice section doesn't haveas many entries as some other topics, but it seems like it's pretty active. I'm glad. Well, better get down to business now...

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**Dark Heroine**

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Lydia Deetz found herself sitting on the very same couch she had sat on back in New York, waiting for the loaders to pack away all of her things for the move, now though, she was not in New York but Connecticut and was waiting for the loaders to _un_-load her stuff. She smiled to herself at the similarity of the moment and tried to snap a picture to match the one she took before she left, except with her new home as the center ground.

Her camera snapped and suddenly she felt the sofa beneath her moving. Two loaders, these ones in hideous off-white jumpsuits, had taken either end of her resting place and began to carry it into the house, her along with it. Inside her parents were talking, and Lydia was, for some reason, amused to see Delia was already regretting the move. She said something about gasoline and a blowtorch that made Lydia chuckle. The loaders put her down and she hopped off the couch with a grin. "Thanks for the lift." She said like the silly pun was a very clever joke. The loaders, however, didn't seem to be in a humorous mood and just walked back outside to get more furniture.

The girl just shrugged and looked around the room, smiling when she saw a spiders' web, complete with spider, on the staircase. "I'm going to go pick out my room!" She called to her parents, already running up the stairs, while her dad muttered something about the plumbing.

It didn't take her long to find the room she wanted. It may have been a guestroom while the Maitlandslived here, it wasn't very big or impressive, but Lydia fell in love with it right away. There was a large window that went down to her mid-thigh and up to just a foot below the ceiling, the walls were smooth and neutral, and the bed… a canopy bed just like she'd always wanted (though it had white curtains which would need to be changed). She looked around the room with a satisfied smirk thinking that the dark shelves were the perfect place to put her skulls and vampire plushies.

"No, I can't put up with this!" A voice Lydia didn't recognize reached the Goth girl's ears and she turned to her open door to she who it could be. Really she had assumed it was one of Delia's designers ranting about something, but when she saw the woman those thoughts went out the window. The woman was to… nice looking to be one of Delia's friends, or even hang out in a remotely similar crowd. She looked like a local of Winter River.

"Come on now Barb. Let's just calm down for a second." It was a man this time who spoke; his steady voice trying to calm the woman's flustered one.

If the woman's frantic steps said anything it was that she was obviously not anywhere close to calming down. "What's the point of being ghosts if no one can even see us?!"

The word 'ghosts' triggered something in Lydia and she walked out of her room after them, just as the woman, Barb, huffed angrily at the sight of Delia marking up a wall for re-designing. "Hey!"

The couple stopped and looked up at Lydia, and so did Delia. "What _is it _Lydia?" Her step-mother asked forcefully.

"I wasn't talking to-" The girl began when she realized that her step-mother couldn't see the pair standing on the stairs. So that meant… "Deadly-vu!"

"What?" Delia looked up at her step-daughter like she'd grown another head.

"Oh nothing!" Lydia lied, when waited for the artist to turn back to her wall-markings before motioning to the ghosts on the stairs to follow her. The two had been trying to figure out if the girl had been talking to them or not, but they decided to follow her anyway.

She led them into a quiet part of the upstairs hall and then turned to look at them.

The woman spoke first, "You can see us?"

Lydia smiled a bit awkwardly at her forwardness, "Um, yes. I'm guessing not many people can?"

"I'm not even sure how _you're _doing it." The man muttered when suddenly Lydia's father came up the stairs.

"Pumpkin? Who are you talking to?" The man asked, looking around his daughter.

"Um," The dark girl spared a glance at the Maitlands, "I didn't say anything."

Charles looked confused, but shook whatever thought he had with a smile. "Did you find your room?" He asked quickly, and barely waited for confirmation before answering, "Good! Now if you'll excuse me honey, I've got a study to… protect from Delia."

Lydia let out a little giggle as her father rushed passed her and into a nearby room. The twelve-year-old sighed and then looked back at the Maitlands. "Got anyplace we can talk? I don't want people thinking I'm crazy."

"Alright, let's just go up to the attic and figure this out." The female ghost said, her voice was less stressed than had been just moments before.

Lydia followed the two ghosts she still didn't know up the stairs to another door. The man took out a key and opened it, letting the two girls in before shutting and locking it again.

"Whoa!" The girl let out a gasp at the sight. There was a huge model of Winter River, made to scale. "This is awesome, did you make this?"

"Yeah, it was a hobby and a job." The man said, a bit flattered, before he shifted his glasses and picked up a thick book from the side of the table. The woman walked over to peek over his shoulder.

The Goth girl watched them with a smile, "I'm Lydia by the way."

Both ghosts seemed to realize their lack of introduction at the same time and both tried to give their names. This of course ended in a mix of words that only caused Lydia to giggle a bit. Finally the man decided to speak for both of them, "Well, I'm Adam, and this is my wife Barbara. It's nice to meet you Lydia."

"You're the couple that used to live here right? So you're really ghosts?" Lydia was looking at the two with a mix of awe and suspicion.

"Yes…" Adam spoke, his voice trailing off as he looked at the girl. It looked like he was trying to find the right way to put something. "Aren't you scared?"

The question startled Lydia and for a moment there she couldn't fathom why they thought she would be scared. Then it hit her. "Oh, right, ghosts. Um, not really."

Barbara just shook her head in disbelief. "You know I would have been scared out of my wits if I'd seen a ghost at your age."

"Why? You guys seem nice enough to me." The young girl said with a grin. The couple looked like they were going to respond but there was a sudden sound of static as the old television turned on behind them.

"Yee hoo!" Someone's voice rang out through the TV as the camera spanned across a graveyard that looked suspiciously fake.

Lydia and the Maitlands walked over to get a better look, and watched as a strange guy in a cowboy hat come into the picture seated on what looked to be a huge plastic cow. Lydia grinned, "A cowboy on a cow."

The ghostly couple didn't seem to hear her as they watched the guy attempt to swirl a lasso with a bit of success. "Havin' trouble with the living?"

The trio watched as the advertisement went on, Lydia shaking a bit from trying to keep in her laughter. The commercial ended with the guy, Betelgeuse as the flashing words said, singing a horribly composed jingle and howling, then the screen when blank again.

The Maitlands blinked and looked at each other. "What was that?"

By then Lydia couldn't take it anymore and began to laugh hysterically. "Who was that guy?" She managed to get out, before bursting into laughter again, "He'll possess himself… yeah, because _that _would be helpful!"

The couple smiled a bit, not really seeing what was so funny. It was all rather odd to them. Adam spoke as Lydia began to calm down. "That guy Beetlegiest? There was a flier for him in the handbook…"

He ran over to the table to get the flier while Lydia picked up the handbook. "It's Beetlejuice." She said flipping through the thick hard-cover. Both Adam and Barbara looked at her strangely. "Um, it's a star in the constellation Orion."

The two still seemed a bit surprised, but decided to drop it. Barbara turned to her husband. "So what do you think? Should we call him?"

"Just say his name three times?" Adam said, thinking it over but still looking like he was all for the idea.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The little Goth girl said, still reading the handbook like it was a particularly interesting dark novel. "You may not have many here, but in New York you get used to picking out which guys are conmen or not, and Mr. Cowboy just now looked pretty conny to me."

Adam looked a bit disappointed, "But then what else can we do. We can't leave the house for some reason."

"For 125 years, according to this." Lydia put in, before shutting the book. "Why do you need a bio-exorcist anyway? It's for us right?"

Barbara's eyes softened a bit, she didn't want to seem rude, especially to a little girl. "We don't mind you. But your parents…"

"Are wrecking everything, right. Well, Delia is mostly." Lydia said thoughtfully. "Well the book says that living people won't see ghosts if they won't acknowledge the strange and unusual. If that's true my parents are _never _going to see you."

This did nothing for the Maitlands' spirits of course, and they went right back to trying to figure out what to do. It made Lydia feel a bit guilty. "Hey, you know if you want to go all Amityville Horror on my parents, I'd help you out. As long as you don't hurt them or anything. They kind of need it."

"You shouldn't say those things about your parents, young lady." Barbara said, sounding like a mother herself. Lydia sighed and wondered if all ghosts where normal like them, but then her eyes fell on the Betelgeuse flier and she dismissed the thought. That commercial was _not_ normal.

"Wait!" Adam said, stopping mid-pace. "There was a thing to do in the book in case of emergency."

The twelve year old looked at the ghost oddly, wondering what his 'emergency' was. Still, she held up the book and spoke, since she'd already read what he was talking about. "It says to draw a door and knock three times."

"Why is everything in threes around here?" Barbara asked, though it was obvious she wasn't expecting an answer. Lydia gave one anyway. "Three is a powerful number in witchcraft. It makes sense that something should be done 3 times before a spell works…"

The female ghost just looked at her strangely, like she wanted to ask the girl why she knew things like this. Lydia couldn't think of what to tell her, she just enjoyed looking stuff like that up. The small girl was grateful when Adam began knocking, and brought his wife's attention back to him. Suddenly the room began to shake as the bricks began to give. A bright green light came from the other side, as the wall opened like a real door into a smokey green world Lydia couldn't make out. "Deadly-vu!"

Adam smiled and looked over at his wife. "I say we go!"

"Can I come too?" Lydia was already moving over toward the wall-door, wanting nothing more than to see what was through all of that green light and smoke.

"No!" Barbara was the one to stop her, putting her surprisingly solid hands on the young girl's shoulders. "Don't make your parents worry. We'll be back in a little while; we just need to figure out what's going on."

Lydia wanted to protest, but Barbara had sounded like her mother for a second and the girl had to give in. The Maitlands walked into the green together, promising to be back as soon as they could, and the wall-door closed silently behind them.

"Ghosts… wow." She whispered to herself, just realizing how amazing that was. She grinned like someone with a new secret and would have walked out of the attic to go finish reading the Handbook for the Recently Deceased if it hadn't been for the vaguely familiar voice that came from behind her.

"Pretty cool, huh babes?"

To be Continued….

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_A/N: Even in this short amount of time I got myself a review! Yay! Still I got a bunch of hits, but only one review… *hinting* Anyway, there are a few scenes I'm planning to do from the movie, but mostly from this point it will vary a bit. Lydia's got 3 months with Beetlejuice while the Maitlands are in the Waiting Room right?_


	3. First Encounter

Author: Kandy Kuro (Otakkun)

Summary: So what if our level-headed, well-adjusted, mischievous Lydia from the cartoons was in the movie instead of the slightly more suicidal and depressed movie Lydia? Well, for one, things will definitely go better for Betelgeuse.

Warnings: Swearing (Betelgeuse), sexual situations (Betelgeuse), and… well I should probably not say it again… ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Beetlejuice or Lydia or any of the characters cartoon or movie. I'm only playing with them for a bit, and promise I'm not getting any money from it. Geez.

Author's Notes: Kaa! I got 7 reviews now! *hugs reviews* I'm glad I'm getting this right. Also please note I don't usually update this quickly (I've got 3 chapters in just a day) usually there's a longer wait, but I'm still very happy about my reviews,(*eats cookie bribe guiltily*) and the chapters aren't very long by themselves. Also, since Beetlejuice is in this chapter, there's going to be a lot of cursing and capital letters. Just a warning. Well, anyway… LET'S GET ON WITH IT!!!

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**Dark Heroine**

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Lydia turned around slowly trying to figure out where that voice had come from. In her mind she remembered the weird western commercial that had come on just a couple of minutes ago, so, automatically, the girl turned to look at the television, but this time it stayed off.

"Hey! Bright eyes! WRONG WAY!" The voice screamed, and Lydia heard a bit of a squeak in the tone, like the guy was filled with helium. The girl also noticed that a 'WRONG WAY' sign had appeared on the TV with the word 'dumbass' written in sharpie below the bold words. The girl knew she should probably feel offended, but couldn't help but smile at the prop.

The little Goth girl turned around and placed her hands on her hips. "Okay, where?"

"Just follow the sound of - ah, fuck it - I'M IN THE MODEL!" The voice seemed to change jaggedly through tones, and Lydia sighed at the guy's obvious impatience. She did, however, find out where he was.

In the graveyard of the model (and Lydia grinned when she realized why the graveyard in the commercial looked so fake), there was a guy of about three inches sitting easily on a tombstone. "Hey, babes, how's it goin'?"

Lydia's grin widened, "You looked bigger on TV."

This seemed to get at the pint-sized ghost, since he hopped off his tombstone and glared up at the girl with a look that said looks-like-I-need-to-explain-something-to-ya. "Let's just get somethin' straight here babes. I'm not usually this, um, well FUCKING TINY. It's sorta just a temporary thing, know what I mean?"

"Not really." The girl answered smiling slightly. The guy went from crazy to smooth seamlessly, and she thought it was hilarious, but she wasn't sure if he'd meant for it to be funny and didn't want to start laughing if he hadn't.

Meanwhile the ghost seemed to be trying to explain. "Well, you know, it's like a, um, curse!" He said the last word with a flourish, grinning up at her like all the pieces of his story were coming together for him. "Yeah, got into a situation with this old hag, kinda a looked-at-you-the-wrong-way thing, _completely not my fault_, and ended up, well like this!"

Lydia had to admit that sounded like a bad break (and considering she was talking to a dead guy maybe even true), but the way _he_ said it made her think of those guys on the corners or in the subways of New York who's grandmothers' were on their deathbeds (off and on throughout the year) and could-she-lend-them-a-couple-of-bucks-for-medical-reasons-you-know. But to this guy's credit, he hadn't asked for-

"So whada ya say babes? Wanna help me out here?" The ghost grinned up at her with his arms spread wide.

-anything…

Lydia shook her head and sighed, but at the same time she couldn't help but smile a bit at the guy. "Wow. A 3-inch-tall conman."

"I TOLD YOU I'M NOT 3 INCHES! Shit." The conman growled, then spat something out that looked suspiciously like a cockroach into his hand, then shoved it back into his mouth and ate it again. "Look, babes, I ain't askin' for much, okay? I just need _you_ to say _my _name _three times_." He said the words slowly and held up three fingers for emphasis.

"And _why_ exactly can't _you_ do it?" The young girl smirked, crossing her arms. She bet this was gonna be good.

"Well, ya see babes, I got this thing, like a cold or somethin' and…" He took this time to cough convincingly actually hacking up what looked to be that same poor cockroach from before. Oddly enough it was still alive and quickly made a break for it. "Hey, get back here!"

Lydia turned around quickly and put her hand over her mouth, trying desperately not to laugh. The ghost seemed to think he'd made her sick, and disturbingly enough looked proud of himself. "Anyway, let's just say I'm havin' some trouble in the sayin' my own name department… But hey! You got it first try didn't cha babes?"

"Wait, that's your _name_?" Lydia actually did give a little giggle, "I thought it was a spell."

"It is-well it isn't-and-AH! JUST SAY IT! Two more times, babes. C'mon!" Betelgeuse shouted, jumping and fidgeting like he wanted to jump up there and pull the words out of her.

She probably would have had something to say back at the cursed ghost, but she stopped when she heard her father calling from downstairs.

"Lydia? Where are you? I got take-out!"

The girl sighed; they were still getting Chinese take-out even though they probably had plenty of places to get fresh ingredients for home-made food. Then again, she should probably be grateful Delia hadn't decided to cook. She turned toward the door as a squeaky voice screamed at her to stop. "Where ya goin' babes! Just two quick words! Just bam! Bam!"

Lydia smirked and looked back at the model, "I'm going to go eat. We can continue this conversation after I'm done OK?"

She ignored his protest of "NO! It's NOT OKAY!" and instead grabbed a pen and piece of paper from one of the desks and wrote something. Betelgeuse did his best to eavesdrop from across the room, but it only took a moment for her to come back over to the model and place the slip of paper over a few of the graves. "Also if you want people to be able to say your name you might want to use this. Not everyone is familiar with astrology, right, _Beetlegiest?"_

The ghost looked so pissed he was actually smoking from the head. Lydia snickered and went for the door. She was half way out when she looked back. "You'll still be here when I get back, right?"

Betelgeuse was leaning moodily against a headstone, "Trust me babes, I'm gonna be here all FUCKING DAY!"

Lydia frowned, almost feeling guilty, "You don't need to yell, and I'll be back in a few minutes anyway. See ya!" She disappeared out the door, shouting to her dad that she was coming.

"Heh. Dumb broad." Betelgeuse grumbled, kicking a few plastic trees over. He looked over at the slip of paper where the word 'BEETLEJUICE' was written in big clear letters. He wasn't especially literate (he grew up in the 1360's what do you expect?) but he could tell what it said.

He took out a few of his Bio-exorcist fliers and looked them over; 'Betelgeuse' was the name in his file, but… He snapped his fingers and the fliers adjusted their lettering until they each had 'Beetlejuice' listed three times. He looked at them for about a second before shoving them back into one of his pockets. "Eh, not bad."

He shifted his shoulders awkwardly; he was probably still stiff from his escape from the grave, a hard thing to do when you were 6-centimeters-under. He looked down at the grimy brown trench coat he was wearing, one of the few normal-ish looking outfits he possessed. Half a thought changed that, and he was suddenly wearing his favorite white-and-black striped suit he liked to say was for 'business'.

He threw his arms out suddenly, jerking his sleeves back to his wrists from where they'd fallen down onto his hands; an easy way to tell it wasn't fitted (it was actually pretty cheap) though he never felt like fixing it. He took out a cigarette that was only halfway burned through and took a short drag from it, letting out more smoke than he should have. "I wonder what's for dinner." Then he was gone from the model leaving only the echo of his laugher behind him.

To Be Continued…

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_A/N: Yep, movie BJ. He's the best~! Cartoon BJ was still Beetlejuice -just more kid friendly- and as long as it's Beetlejuice cartoon Lyds can deal with him. Besides I can't take away BJ's precious curse words and perverted tendencies! Basically the only one changing is Lydia -her parents, Beetlejuice, etc are all movie verse. ^^ Review again *makes me happy*._

_Also, sorry this one's a bit shorter than the others. None of the chapters have been very long, but this one's the shortest. But I did want there first encounter to be in its own chapter. I had more to it before but decided to put that in chapter 4. ^^ Next chapter is the deal that breaks any chance of Lydia getting caught up in any marriage deals. *evil grin*_


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